San Jose Sharks
Celebrini Going to World Championships
Macklin Celebrini’s season is not done.
The San Jose Sharks superstar will represent Canada at the World Championships.
Celebrini has already represented Canada this year, winning a silver medal at the 2026 Olympics and leading the tournament with five goals. He was also named to the Olympic All-Star team.
This was part of a breakout sophomore campaign for the 19-year-old: He also set the San Jose Sharks’ franchise record for most points in a single-season with 115, surpassing Hall of Famer Joe Thornton’s 114 in 2006-07.
The San Jose Sharks, however, just missed the playoffs, so the World Championships will give Celebrini a chance to finish his season on a winning note.
As reported by Darren Dreger, Celebrini will be joined by a cavalcade of stars on Team Canada, with more to be announced.
Team Canada has added some big names to its Men’s World roster. Celebrini, McKenna, Scheifele, Barzal all committed. Morgan Rielly has agreed to go to Switzerland as well. More to come.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) April 27, 2026
Macklin Celebrini, memorably, teamed up with Sidney Crosby at the last World Championships. Will Crosby, his Pittsburgh Penguins on the brink of elimination, join his heir apparent again?
The World Championships, hosted by Switzerland, will take place from May 15 to 31.
Maybe it’s just me, but I kinda wish Celebrini was skipping it this time around. Doesn’t feel like he has as much to gain this time, and he already played a lot of games over a condensed schedule.
And not so sure I’d refer to McKenna as a “star” before he’s played a pro game. I remember watching a podcast Drew was on where he spoke of asking Misa about his impressions of McKenna from playing with him at World Juniors. Misa apparently said that McKenna is still doing stuff that doesn’t work in the NHL. 🫣
It’s been 2 weeks since he last played, will be two weeks more before the games, and is only a 14 day stretch of play. That tournament should be considered a great off season program for him.
I’m on board with Celebrini taking the summer off.
He played a ton of hockey this season and the demands on him aren’t going to lessen next season. 84 game schedule and perhaps playoffs.
This isn’t the Olympics and I think it’d be hard to take this tournament seriously when you just came off the Olympics.
At least its not like any of the Sharks who went last season got injured. Oh wait …
Crosby played WCs last year and he’s twice Mack’s age
But that wasn’t after a season with a condensed schedule and Olympic games in the middle of it. And last offseason it made at least some sense to get some games with Team Canada (and some soon-to-be teammates) ahead of an Olympic Games…
It only sounds like a lot to those of us who aren’t so young.😉
Agreed. I think the concern about a 19 year old playing to much is kind of funny. Especially an ultra elite athlete like him.
There are pros and there are cons to a player that simply has no off-switch.
Exactly. The kid is a sponge and every venue/theater is another study lab for him to hone his craft. Its that drive that makes him who he is and he doesn’t need any of us to be his mommy.
Willam Eklund called and asked if this was a good idea?
I mean why take a chance? It’s a rough game. If I were Mike I would keep that little baby Jesus away in a manger on ice until camp. Let him work on his body with his dad in BC.
So … have you heard this one before?
Vegas takes a 3-0 on the road in a playoff game. But the opposition scores the next 4. Vegas evens the score at 4-4. And the game goes to OT.
I mean, this did happen on April 24, 2019 (I was in section 217 iirc). And its happening tonight in Utah.
We’ll see what OT holds (and its not a game 7), but if I’m Utah, I’m calling 1-800-BARCLAY
habs, sabers, ducks, utah , all young teams kicking ass
Habs and Tampa is a terrific series. Habs have a pretty young roster. Though the key pieces like Caufield and Suzuki came into the organization before 2020 iirc. They made a tough but correct call drafting Slafkovsky first overall and somehow getting Demidov when he slipped to 5th overall. Lane Hutson in rd 2 and Dobes also among the picks. Ducks are about 1 year ahead of the Sharks, though they have a blueline and Lacombe is fantastic. Utah’s been at it for quite a while, the Sergachev trade was the indicator that they felt their rebuild days were over.… Read more »
I’m surprised the Lightning haven’t sliced up that Swiss cheese defense
Glad Celebrini is playing because I was already starting to show signs of Celebrini withdrawal.
I wonder if he will stay and Jumbo’s place in Switzerland too haha
I don’t understand the point of World Championships. You have the Olympics which is great, you have national leagues which are great. Younger players don’t get to play in the Olympics so World Juniors makes sense. But why play in the World Championships?
I get it than the World Cup is more prestigious than Olympic soccer, but that’s absolutely not the case with hockey.
$$$$$
If anyone is interested, Elite Prospects released their latest Top 32 rankings. There’s lots of breakdown of strengths and weaknesses of the players along with video on each player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbQHKitCpMo
Of particular interest to most of us (and a bit of an eye opener), here is how they slotted in the top D:
3 – Reid
4 – Carels
6 – Villeneuve (they’ve been very high on him for awhile despite his size)
9 – Smits
10 – Rudolph
11 – Verhoeff (!!!)
12 – Gustafsson
19 – Lin
I think just based on size and age alone, knowing absolutely nothing else about Villeneuve or Verhoeff, seeing that draft order would be an total shock. Verhoeff gives me those Dickinson vibes from the right side. I haven’t seen too much of him, but he played NCAA level at age 17 the entire season. He’s a mid-June birthday. He skates well, he’s offensive enough, and if he had stayed in the WHL, there would probably be no concern about him. As an aside, I think pundits and possibly even teams are pretty bad at assessing NCAA performance by draft year… Read more »
Agree with basically all of this. Verhoeff won’t make it to 11 – this ranking is punishing him for testing himself in the NCAA. And Villeneuve almost certainly won’t go top 10 with his size – I think his weight is even a bigger issue than his height. I’d be floored if GMMG took him with the first pick (and surprised if he did it with the EDM pick, if he’s still available). That said, it seems like Carels is surging right now – he may go ahead of Verhoeff, but hard to say. So much of it depends on… Read more »
Everyone’s high on Carels, he got hot at the right time. Barring a huge leap at World Juniors, there’s not much chance for Verhoeff to remind folks how good he is. Would be thrilled if either one fell to 9. I really think there’s a chance that with two wings at the top, and Viggo Bjork and Caleb Malhotra solidifying their value, a primo D falls to 9. Just gotta wait til May 5 to see if the Sharks hold onto #9. I think they could be #1, 2, 3, 9, 10, or 11 depending on what those little balls… Read more »
Thanks!
Ok, so let me get this straight: Mack is a finalist for the Lindsay award, and will be/is (haven’t checked) a finalist for the Hart trophy but Sheng doesn’t think/didn’t vote for him as his Hart Trophy #1? I commented on a post that was stacked with other posts so the comments were basically dead, but the MVP is MOST VALUABLE TO HIS TEAM. You take McJesus, MacKinnon and Kucherov off of their respective teams, and what do you get? A playoff team, 100%. That’s not subjective, that’s objective. You take Mack off the Sharks and they’re finishing with 4-5… Read more »
I never saw Sheng’s ballot… Did he have him at 2 or 3? Top 5 is defensible even if we might quibble with it one way or the other
Yup. Sheng blew it. Got sucked into that dumb group think where people think you have to make the playoffs to be MVP. It’s rediculous when the stats are this dramatic. Hopefully enough voters don’t suffer from this affliction. I’m betting Cele wins the Lindsay and that will tell you who should be MVP in most cases.